Resurrection
by Tails Is FLUFFY
Summary: Sonic knew that the peace he had been experiencing for three months wasn't going to last. He just didn't expect the way it broke. Now, caught in the midst of a bloodbath, he has to race against time in order to save his friends and the world before the darkest day of the year arrives.
1. Prologue

Prologue

_I'm…alive._

It was the first thought that got through the red haze of my mind. I took deep breaths to clear it up and for strength. It seemed to work because with each one I could make more sense of the world.

I sat up and instantly regretted it. My vision changed colors like a horrible T.V. channel and pain branched everywhere. I stayed in that position until every discomfort went away. I felt sticky and wet as I tried to get up, another sign of my terrible state. I leaned against something for support to view my surroundings.

I could tell that the thing I was propped against was a tree because I managed to gain consciousness in a small forest clearing. It was night, with a chill in the air. The cool air numbed the needle-sharp pain into a dull ache. I knew I was in dangerous position. I could freeze, my wounds could get infected, and I was lost. I couldn't even move by myself. My mouth moved for a cry of help. Instead, a rasp that triggered a coughing fit escaped. But it wasn't the wheezing that brought me to the ground.

It was the fire.

The flames engulfed me before I could move. But they didn't burn my battered body. In fact, it tingled. I could feel my skin stretch over every single wound. These purplish flames that surrounded me were healing me.

A sudden burst of energy unlocked me from this trance. I ran into the dark wall of forestry, trying to get away from those fumes. I didn't stop until I got to a river. I knelt and splashed water into my face. This was a nightmare.

**It's not. It's very real.**

I trembled when a low voice popped in my head.

"No!" I screamed. I tried to flee the riverside but something was holding me down. "Leave me alone!"

**You can't run from me. I'm you.**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 (R)

There were moments in life that Sonic wished went on forever.

There he was, putting dishes away from the dishwasher. It didn't seem like fun to the average person but it seemed like a sort of privilege to him.

It was so...normal.

If he was to say that in front of his fans, they would think that he was joking. Sonic the Hedgehog never liked to rest. He was suppose to be bounding off the walls twenty four - seven.

But even heroes have to rest sometimes. Especially after the ordeal he had gone through three months earlier.

He had been doing the same thing as always, chasing after Eggman. When the doctor had pretended to surrender, the hedgehog had let his cockiness get the best of him. That gave the opening that the doctor had been waiting for and the next thing the speedster knew was that he was caught.

He knew he was in trouble the moment the emeralds changed color.

Right after he realized that, he felt the energy he had in himself change. The new force ate up the the power he was used to up to the point it changed his appearance. He could feel the destruction of everything around him, including the ground far below. He could feel the inhabitants of the planet panicking, scared of impending doom.

And he loved it.

It was the first time Sonic had gotten pleasure from the suffering of others. It wasn't the last, though. Every night when he transformed into the werehog, he felt happy that others were suffering. He even felt a slight hatred for Chip, but he didn't know why until much later. He felt like he fighting an inner battle trying to keep his thoughts sane every night for four and a half months. It was no wonder that he had fallen into a deep 27 hour sleep when he got home.

Yes, putting away the dishes felt like a paradise compared to his previous adventure.

He even took his time, making sure each dish was completely dry and placed in the correct cabinets. The hedgehog didn't know he had started to hum until he had finished the task.

Still humming, he gazed out the window that was above the sink. It was a clear early spring night, no sign of the rain that had fallen early this morning. Sonic barely registered the scene behind his house. His attention instinctively went to the moving figure in his backyard.

There, in the dip between the hill that supported their home and another smaller hill, was Tails. The lights from the building slightly illuminated him, showing his actions.

Sonic knew what the 9 year old was doing. The fox had gotten in his mind that he needed to have more experience in the biology of nature in order to apply the mechanical traits of his machinery. At least, that's what Sonic had gotten from the ten minute explanation. Tails had begun to search for insects both day and night a few weeks before the world had broken apart, drawing him into the mission with his big brother. After a week back, he continued where he had left off.

Seeing Tails enjoying the weather outside made the hedgehog yearn for fresh air. He took a few steps to the back door and push the screen open. The cool air that came after a rain surrounded him and he quickly undid the sweater that he had on his waist and put it on him. He sometimes envied his little brother's ability to stand the cold.

The back porch didn't have rails like the front did so he leaned against a post instead, watching the fox run around putting bugs in the jars that stood in the middle of the yard. Tomorrow they were supposed to Angel Island so that Tails could add more variation to his collection. It was to be the first outing since coming home other than the store, something that Sonic had been on the fence about. He liked going places with Tails but he wanted to stay home just a bit longer. This place was like a bubble. Eggman didn't know where it was so the risk of him blowing it up was minuscule. Their fans had no idea either so it was peaceful and quiet. The facts that finally got him to go was that any place that you stay in forever will get boring and that Tails will go off on his own to the jungle that was the island. Ever since Knuckles, a life long inhabitant of the place, had mentioned that even he didn't know about everything that grew there Sonic had been put in a state of unease everytime they went deep into the trees there. Tails had a bad habit of letting science getting in the way of safety. Sonic clearly remembered the scorpion that the fox had picked up on a mission when he was five. It had been dead and the kit managed to completely miss the stinger when he grabbed it, things that Sonic was grateful for. Even if that was a few years ago and Tails had more experience being alone Sonic wasn't going to let him go by himself into the jungle. Plus he hadn't seen a certain red echidna for a while.

The first and last reason were given to the fox. The younger one would have a fit if he caught wind of the other one.

"Sonic!" The excited voice caused the 17 year old to straighten his posture. The fox was running towards his direction with his arms full with glass jars. They were placed on the table that stood to the far right on the porch. Sonic walked over and peered in them. There were only two that were empty. The other five were filled with what seemed like a moth, nightcrawlers, a lizard, two grasshoppers, and a few mucus colored bugs that he couldn't identify.

"What are those?" Sonic pointed to to the glass containing the pale grubs.

"They seem to be some sort of larvae. Probably beetle."

Now that the fox was directly under the porch light, Sonic could see how bad the mud was on his body. Nobody would have been able to tell that this fox had been born with white patches. Thank goodness that he had the sense to take off the white gloves he normally wore. There would have been no way to get them completely clean. There was already going to be trouble with jeans and the originally blue t-shirt he had on. The shoes were a lost cause.

"Did you go swimming in the mud or something?" The fox briefly hesitated answering the question, scratching behind his ears instead.

"Well...the hills have no traction right now and grasshoppers can be fast..."

The scene that popped into the hedgehog's head was enough to send him laughing. Tails glared at his older brother, picked up the jars that were occupied, and marched in the house.

"Try not to get too much mud in the house!" Sonic gasped before following.

Sonic didn't know he was shutting the door on the last peaceful night he would have for a long time.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Sonic remembers the first time he came across Angel Island.

He had been in his Super form then and he and Tails had been surprised to see the huge mass floating in midair. The natural curiosity of young boys was the thing that had pushed them to explore it.

The next thing he knew was that a powerful force knocked him so hard that the emeralds spurted out of his body. Sonic had not been able to attack due to his body compensating for the sudden loss of energy so he just sat there dazed as the red echidna gathered up the gems and disappear. Tails had to help him up. As they ran in the direction the thief went, both agreed that they would never set foot on this island again.

How wrong they were.

Sonic shivered as the plane broke through a patch of clouds. He was used to the cool feeling that came with the combined efforts of the water clinging to his quills and the air blasting at his face it was one of the coldest spring mornings of the year so far.

"Ya doing alright there, Sonic?" Tails's voice came through the band under his glove.

"Yeah. A little cold though."

"Why don't you come inside? I can make you a drink."

"Do you really have-"

"There it is!" Tails interrupted. To Sonic's relief the clouds had thinned out to reveal the floating island right in front of them. A few minutes later, the plane started to land. When Tails parked it in clear space he slid off the wing and took in their surroundings.

Angel Island had changed since the first time the duo had set foot in it. It sure wasn't on fire anymore like it was most of the first trip. It didn't even look like it had a fire. The Master Emerald had done a terrific job at protecting the fauna from the fire and replenishing the flora that had been lost. It had even conjured the rain to extinguish the flames.

"Hey! Knuckles!" Sonic greeted his long time friend who had just appeared. Instead of waving back, the guardian charged and punched him.

"What's the big idea?" Knuckles growled.

"I should ask you the same question." The hedgehog coldly replied as he rubbed his arm.

"You don't talk to me for months and you just appeared at my home unannounced. What were you expecting?"

"A 'hello' or 'Welcome'."

"I'll show you a 'welcome'." Knuckles pounced on the hedgehog and both proceeded to tussle on the jungle floor. The brief fight ended when Tails yelled at the red figure to not smash through the plane wing that Sonic had taken shelter behind. Knuckles heeded the plea and gave one last glare to the hedgehog before stomping off.

"Geez." Sonic commented when the echidna was out of earshot. "What's his problem?"

"Well," Tails slid down from the plane and dusted his jeans. "it is your fault that he's like this."

"Oh, you're taking his side?"

"I'm not taking anyone's 'side'. I'm just saying that you should have contacted him once in a while."

"Like I-"

"I know what you went through. But a brief greeting over the Miles Electric during the day when you were yourself or a phone call when we got home would have prevented this. He was worried about us."

Sonic nodded. From what he gathered from Amy in the brief times he saw her during his predicament, Knuckles had been unable to join them because something had gone wrong with the Master Emerald. The hedgehog couldn't never blame him for staying with the giant gem. Tikal and Chaos were like the echidna's mother and older brother before a freak accident had sucked them inside. Of course he would want to stay.

"I guess I should say that I'm sorry." He sighed. Tails didn't reply but instead went towards the building that was the echidna's house. The hedgehog followed.

What had started as an idea for extra protection for the M.E. expanded into the biggest thing on the island. All three of them had designed and built it over the course of seven months, each of them being able to point out what exactly they contributed. Since none of them had been strangers of the concept of erecting buildings from the ground up, (Sonic and Tails built their own house and Knuckles had done shrines around the island for the emeralds.) everything went smoothly.

The overall dome shape had been Sonic's idea. He thought it would be easier to see around the building than the basic rectangular shape. The outside had been made with a kind of rock that grew around the island to trick visitors into thinking it was a just a giant bolder. There was only two openings built that led inside. One was the camouflaged main entrance on the side that Sonic and Tails used to go in. The other was at the top that worked like a sun roof.

The interior of the house was unusual as well. The living room where the entrance led showed how the rest of the rooms and some of the furniture was going to be. On the left side there were the things that were seen in a basic living room with the exception of a sofa that had been designed into a curve shape to fit the circular quality of the house. On the right, however, the wall was made out of glass. Knuckles had wanted the giant gem always in his sight so the glass wall went throughout the whole house, giving a clear view of both the gem and the other rooms that were in the building. There were also a door for every room that led out to the mini courtyard. The coolest part of the building wasn't even something that had been built. It was the lighting. Yes, Tails had wired lights to be able to see but it was hardly needed. The M.E. always gave off a glow, making the whole house fill with green light. It was much more prominent now because the sun roof was open and the sunlight was allowed to hit the gem.

Sonic flopped himself on the couch while Tails went into the kitchen where the owner of the house was currently in. He heard the fox greet him over the sound of tinkling glass and the sound of the fridge, indicating that someone was getting something to drink.

"Why are you guys here?" Knuckles asked the fox a few seconds.

"You know that bug collection I have?" A pause, then the voice continued. " I think I dug up mostly every kind of grub around my house. They hate me now." Sonic lightly chuckled at the last sentence. " Anyways, I need a new variety now and since these bugs have been around Chaos energy for so long I wanted to see how they look compared to the ones that I have caught. "

"Where's Sonic?" The echidna growled.

"On the sofa." Tails's voice then dropped down to a whisper, a sign that he was talking about the hedgehog. Sonic didn't try to listen in.

"Fine." The guardian grunted.

There was a scraping of chairs and Sonic tried to look like he wasn't listening to the conversation before they popped out of the kitchen.

"Ready to go bug hunting?" Sonic tilted his head to look at his ward.

The fox nodded eagerly. "Let me get my stuff." With that being said he sped out of the house, leaving the two older males alone.

Sonic rose from the couch in order to be somewhat eye level with Knuckles. The latter glared in response.

"Sorry." The hedgehog extended his hand. The echidna looked at the gesture for a long moment.

Then slowly took it.

* * *

><p>After reconciling with the eighteen year old guardian Sonic and Tails had spent the rest of the day at the echidna's home traipsing the island for specimens for the collection. Knuckles had allowed them to stay over the night, much to the fox's glee. However, during his nocturnal hunt, Tails finally collapsed and fell asleep on the dirt. The hedgehog had to carry his brother all the way back to the house.<p>

The following day was spent exploring the city that was currently beneath the island. Knuckles mentioned that he asked the Emerald to allow the floating mass here for a while last year and hasn't regretted it since. Sonic could see why. From what he saw, the population of the town was mostly made up of older people. They weren't the kind who would love to get autographs and selifies. They treated celebrities like regular people. Knuckles was a fan of solitude and that's exactly what the town gave him most of the time.

The town felt homey altogether. More than half of the shops were owned by the residents and it seemed like everybody knew everybody. They spent the morning grocery shopping in a farmer's market. Knuckles introduced them to food combinations that they never heard of.

From now on peanut butter will be replaced by almond butter.

They had lunch at a café nearby. The echidna was obviously a fan of the place because he had a good thing to say about every single item on the list. What was even better was that there was a cute cat working the counter. Since there wasn't any other customers in the little restaurant she was able to stay at their table. The cat had been more interested in Tails than in either of the two teenagers. The fox had been perfectly fine with it and even took it up a notch when he noticed the glares from his companions.

They got their revenge, though. When Tails later on made the mistake of getting cocky about the experience while on the park fountain, they both pushed him in. After yelling at them for his unexpected bath, the fox spent about a hour and a half on a park bench in silent fury drying out his clothes while they played soccer. The preteen's park experience wasn't all bad. A nice elderly couple came by and sat by him. They kept him entranced with a story about a war that had been going on when they were teenagers. They were very knowledgeable about the aircraft industry, Tails had told them on the way back to the island, because the husband had been a pilot and the wife had worked on a plane assembly line. The trio rested until sunset before they loaded on they plane. Knuckles had been convinced to come along with them in order to see the spring festival that would be held in the city near their house.

The sky was decorated with stars by the plane touched home. After bringing everything inside Tails went to set up his collection while the older ones set up sleeping accommodations for the visitor.

"Do you want to see the emeralds before you hit the hay?" Sonic offered.

"You have all seven?" Knuckles asked.

"Most of them. Shadow came by a week ago insisting possession of the green one. So we have six."

Sonic led the way into the garage where Tails had set up his workshop. In the garage was a display that mirrored the ones that were seen in museums. The container seem to be simple enough for the precious gems it contained, but most people who have tried know how difficult it was to get into it.

"So you just leave them out in the open like this?" Knuckles stepped closer to the gems. Sonic stood silently a little ways off to the left and waited until the visitor's face shifted into realization. "Wait. These aren't real."

"Of course they are real." Sonic smiled. "They're real convincing copies of them."

"Then where are the originals?"

"Right here." Tails had walked across the room and opened a nearly invisible part of the wall. Inside were seven circular cubbies for each of the authentic emeralds. Six of them were filled.

"Those are just decoys." Tails pointed at the display. "I had to make protection totally convincing to fool common thieves."

"And what happens if it doesn't?"

"You have to use special gloves to access the fake wall."

"Hmm..." The echidna nodded and grabbed the red chaos emerald from its hole. "They still don't have their full power."

"I know." Sonic frowned. They've been through a lot lately. But nothing has been going on lately so that we need them."

"Hopefully they'll get to rest a little longer."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"When were you going to tell me that you guys were accepting visitors again?"

"We were kinda hoping that you never found out."

Sonic caught the glance that Tails gave him. The fox had a hand propped under his chin and the fingers of the other drumming on the kitchen table. He had been following Sonic's and Amy's conversation with his eyes, giving the occasional glare to the both of them.

Sonic chuckled. So what if his brother disapproved of his last statement? It was fun to see how would the pink hedgehog react. This time she scoffed and turned her attention to the open back door she had casually strolled through.

"Knuckles! Save some for your hosts!" Sonic couldn't see the echidna but it wasn't hard to guess that he was on the porch table devouring the daily pastry that Amy brought. She always brought something over.

The three males had spent the last two days together surprisingly well. There had been another minor argument between the elder teens, but it was over in a few minutes. The echidna planned to go home tomorrow afternoon, after resting from today's festival. Sonic and Tails had been debating on what was the best part of the Spring Festival when Amy had walked in unannounced through the backdoor and gave them a morning greeting.

Now the pink hedgehog was rushing out the same door to scold the echidna. She came back with a muffin tin and the red visitor in tow.

"So," He pulled up a chair and finished off the muffin he had brought with him. "I'm guessing that she's coming with us."

"You're going to the festival?" Amy gave an incredulous stare to the echidna. "I thought you just came to tell Sonic something."

"No, he spent the past two days in the guest room." Tails confirmed Sonic's statement with a vigorous nod, his face too full with muffin to speak.

"Cool." A brief smile was aimed at the echidna before she turned her attention to the muffin tin. Sonic glanced at it as well.

Figures. They didn't leave him a single one to try.

* * *

><p>"Ooh! Look at that one!"<p>

Sonic didn't even bother to look. He had seen fireworks before. Besides, he was getting tired of tilting his head up every five seconds.

Amy was ecstatic about every single detail of the night festival, from the food to the sights. Sonic knew that her favorite part was she had been able to spend most of her time with him alone.

All four of them had arrived at the nearby city at noon, when the festival started. The city had transformed into what seemed like an amusement park. They had stayed together when they ate lunch from the various food booths that had been planted around. Tails had been the first to go off on his own, wanting to see a showcase about ancient technology. Knuckles had gone off in search of a quiet place an hour later, leaving the two hedgehogs alone for quite a while. It wasn't as bad as it would have been a couple of years ago. Amy had mellowed out and wasn't as crazy for him. They played a few games and went into many of the booths that were around.

"Hey, Sonic?"

"Hmm?"

"We can't miss the parade!" Amy tugged on his windbreaker and pointed to the left.

"It's impossible to miss something that big. Besides we have about an hour before it starts."

"But we won't get a good spot! Come on!" Sonic allowed himself to be dragged two blocks before he spotted a familiar red figure.

"Hey, it's Knux!" Amy stopped and followed the blue hedgehog's gaze. Knuckles was in front of a small store. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be a store that specialized in stuff like astrology.

"I never knew that this store was here." The echidna said when they came up to him.

"The truth is that I don't really come this way often." Sonic usually did his business in the center of the town because it was faster to get to places and easier to blend in with the crowd. It didn't help he wasn't as interested in this kind of stuff as Knuckles was, despite the situations he's been dragged into that focuses on this exact subject. Amy was, though, so when she and Knuckles started a conversation he slipped away.

He was glad that the citizens had gotten used to the fact that a world hero lived around here. It was the tourists that he had to watch out for. He did run into a few of them as he got closer to the heart of the city but for the most part he was left alone. Sonic could tell that the parade was starting by how the crowd was acting. Quickly, he found a spot to stand right in front of the street.

The parade was obviously the highlight of the festival. Each year people would decorate floats that had a certain theme. Each display would go down the main streets, pausing in the middle of each one to perform or show off whatever the theme of their cart. There were eight floats, one for each major road. The roads had been built so that all of them were connected by smaller streets, meaning that eventually the line would end where it started. After they passed the starting point they would disperse into the eight streets for the grand finale.

There was a little break after the last one completed the circuit to allow the pedestrians to pick what float they wanted to be by for the end of the festival. Sonic had made his way down a few streets when someone called his name.

"Sonic!" Tails panted.

"Where have you been?" Sonic ruffled his ward's hair. "I haven't seen you in hours."

"I've been in the technology section of the festival the whole time. It's on the other side of the city."

"Figures. Only you would spend so much time inspecting machines."

"What have you been doing?"

"I spent most of the time with Amy-"

"Oooh! How romantic! Hey!" Tails was caught off guard by Sonic's shove and almost collided with a family. He grinned an apology before glaring at the hedgehog.

"It wasn't like that at all, buddy. We just did some games before we came across Knuckles at the fortune shop and we separated there."

"Hmm." Tails smirked. Sonic was about to tell him to get his mind out of the gutter when the announcer came on the speakers.

"Attention! It's almost midnight! I hope everyone has already selected where they want to be for the finale! May I suggest to newcomers that a great place to be is in front of their favorite float."

"I'm going to go see that pirate ship one!" Tails yelled to him before disappearing into the sea of bodies. Sonic started to jog. His favorite was still a few blocks away. The announcer continued his speech.

"Each one has a unique way to finish off the night and welcome the first day of spring! Which one is your favorite? Two minutes 'till!"

Sonic managed to reach his float before the announcer came back on.

"30 seconds! 29...28...27..."

His voice was drowned out by the crowd as they joined in. Sonic grinned as he was caught up in the anticipation of it.

Suddenly, the noise around him vanished. The only thing he could hear was the sound of his heartbeat and he started to shiver, even though the windbreaker he had on had been sufficient earlier. Then moment left as quick as it came. The crowd roared as the seconds ticked by. But the hedgehog didn't join back in.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.


	5. The In-between

In between

Noise.

Not the best thing to wake up to.

There was so much to register. The people, the colors, and the fact that I was still weak.

A panic washed over me. Someone might scream at the sight of me. I barely have enough energy to move, let alone defend myself.

I needed to leave.

It wasn't until I found myself in a dark and empty alley that I calmed down. I sighed and closed my eyes. The little retreat I was in was already was cool and dark but to maximize it, I put a hood over my head that I didn't even realize I had. In fact, why did I have clothes on in the first place?

Any answer that could have helped vanished when all my attention was captured by the sound of glass. A figure had appeared at one of the entrances of the alley. I could tell by scent alone he was drunk.

The guy was too unfocused to notice me leaning against the wall. At first, I just watched him stumble around while mumbling to himself. When I heard the distinct sound of a zipper, I knew I had to make my presence known. I walked up to his side. I could see he was some sort of dog.

How fitting.

"Whass up?" He tried to wave but ended up losing his balance. "It first dey of sprin. You shold be glab."

When I didn't reply, the stranger shrugged and continued to fumble with his pants. This dog had the nerve to attempt to urinate in front of me?

The drunk bastard heard my snarl.

"Ooooh..." He wobbled. "I'm tough, too." He managed to find the bottle he brought with him and hurled it with a force that surprised me. The aim was terribly poor, though. I didn't have to move to dodge it. I did move to catch a piece of the bottle that had bounce off the wall.

It's sad, really, that the last thing he ever did was a failure.

By the time he registered that I was behind him and a huge gash had appeared in his neck, he was already collapsing. I watched his movements until he died. I scoffed in disgust. Stupid mortal.

I inspected the temporary weapon in my grasp. It was a good hunk of glass, half of it covered in blood. I knew that there was not any of that substance on me. It would have been absorbed already into my skin. The material in my hand caught my faint reflection. I chuckled at my stupidity from as I remembered what had happened that made me look like this. I didn't need to physically hide. My disguise would give me enough time to make a plan to reach my goal.

But now wasn't the time for action. I was tired and weak. I could feel my grip slipping. I didn't try to fight to keep hold.

It was better to let my host think that they were in control for now.


	6. Chapter 4

_**Hi, person who is reading this!**_

_**Sorry for the wait! Life has been busy lately. I just graduated high school last week and now currently running around trying to find a college to go into by fall. I also got my first job ever. In retail. Where I have to interact with people. I'm scared to order a pizza over the phone let alone coming face to face with people and taking their money. I'm scared that I am going to get fired soon...**_

_**I also have way too many story ideas on my mind. People who follow me may have gotten a notification that I started a new story in the Harvest Moon category. Why did I do that? Half my stories on here are not even a quarter finished and I keep starting new ones! What's wrong with me?**_

_**Anyways, thank you for reading this note. I hope you enjoy this chapter**_.

**Chapter 4**

The sounds of machinery woke him up.

Sonic had learned from experience to not move during his first minutes of alertness. He could lose the chance of finding out valuable information about his surroundings and about major plans until it was almost too late.

So he pretends to still be asleep. The only thing that would give him away was if he was connected to a heart monitor, which he wasn't to his relief.

Before he could figure out if something knocked him out, the whirring of the machine stopped. Sonic then heard a growl. From that, he concluded that the noises were coming from another room.

All this took less than a minute.

Sonic then transferred his air from his mouth to his nose to gather his bearings. Only when he recognized the scents he opened his eyes.

That confirmed that he was not in danger.

He had merely fell asleep on Amy's couch.

"Look who's awake."

Sonic sat up, wiping a bit of drool off his cheek. His gaze focused on Tails, who sat across the living room.

"What's wrong with you?" Sonic took in the fox's pouty expression.

"Amy kicked me out of the kitchen."

"She always does that because you always try to eat whatever she's making before she finishes whatever she's making."

"Hmph. She didn't have to growl at me."

_So that was what I heard._

Sonic stretched and sniffed the air again.

"Wonder what's she cooking now."

"Chocolate brownies mixed with chocolate cookies topped off with chocolate chips." Tails licked his lips.

A series of flashbacks went through the hedgehog's mind then. Trekking through a forest during a camping trip after a three year old overdosed on marshmallows. A trip to Holoska for Christmas two years later had the same fox stranded on a glacier from a sugar crash due from the sweets that the villagers gave him. And the many, many one-sided games of "Let's eat a whole bag of cereal before the sun comes up and proceed to wake up Sonic by jumping up and down on him.".

These hybrid brownies would be the death of both of them.

The sweet smell intensified when Amy floated out of her kitchen and into the red dominated living room. She set down the tin in front of them.

"I hope this makes you feel better."

"Amy..." Sonic shook his head. "You didn't have to do this."

"Yes, I did!" The female glared at him. "You have been running yourself ragged for the past two months looking for clues. You need someone to commend you for your efforts." She pushed the brownie tin closer to him. "Now are you going to eat or do I have to force-feed you?"

"Do whatever you have to to get him to eat." Tails whined. "I can't get one until he does without feeling bad."

Smiling at the antics of his friends, Sonic reached out to cut a chunk off. As he chewed the delicious square, he thought about the event that occurred two months ago at the festival.

_Something was very wrong._

_The countdown finished. People were celebrating all around him. But he couldn't join them. He could only stand there in a daze as his mind tried to figure out what to do now._

_"Hey! Sonic!" _

_The familiar voice brought his sense of awareness back. The hand that grabbed him made him move again._

_"Knuckles!"_

_"It's officially spring!" The echidna was smiling, a rare expression on him._

_"Yeah..." Sonic couldn't think about anything else to say."_

_"Where's Amy and Tails?"_

_"Wasn't Amy with you?"_

_"I walked away after the store owner started to put stuff up."_

_"Tails went to go see a float."_

_"We should go find them." Knuckles yawned. "I'm kinda tired."_

_Sonic nodded, taking in the words. Maybe what he felt had to do something with being sleepy. Looking around at the cheery crowd, he assured himself that that was the reason._

_They did eventually find the other two and all four of them debated to go to their separate ways or crash together at Amy's because her house was the closest. Eventually it seemed like sleeping in their own beds,with the exception of Knuckles because his house was too far for him to go at that hour, and the boys started to say their goodbyes to Amy. _

_"I hear sirens." Tails frowned._

_The older kids strained to hear what the fox was talking about. As soon as he got the faint sound of the sirens, Sonic took off in the general direction. It didn't take long to run into a couple of alleys, the lights from the emergency response vehicles were the only things illuminating the walls._

_"What happened?" He asked the first cop he saw._

_"Someone called in a murder."_

"I wonder why the caller didn't stay around." Sonic mumbled, cutting another piece.

"Would you have stayed around a scene like that? In a pretty dark alley with a dead body and a killer that could have been still around?" Tails took another bite of the piece he had in his hand. The fox had found a home design magazine and was balancing it in his cleaner hand.

"Maybe the caller was the killer."

"Or maybe the caller was an innocent person who came across the body, informed the police, and left the scene before they were questioned for something they had no part of." Amy countered. "I heard witnesses never get left alone."

Sonic sighed.

"I just don't know what's going to come next."


	7. Inbetween 2

**In-between**

Two and a half months.

It has been two and a half months since I had awakened. And it's has been hell ever since.

No matter what I do, I could feel myself getting weaker with each day. It's a futile effort to try to stop myself from losing so much energy. It's the time of the year that makes me like this.

As if on cue, a hot breeze appeared and ruffled my clothes. I growled. It was supposed to be cooler at night! Why does it feel like summer arrived already? It's still spring!

Another growl escaped from me, this time at myself. I had to learn how to control myself. If I don't, the same thing will happen like last time.

The breeze picked up again. I didn't react as much as I did before. I submitted myself to the suffocating air.

Submission.

As much as I hated it, I had to do it. My own being was too weak to stand alone right now, so I had to submit to my host's demands and whims. I could only be the dominant one for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. I was very lucky that I was in control that night when I first awoke. I doubt my host would have had enough sense to escape the scene and mimic a passing crowd after committing a murder.

Memory revision.

That's where all my strength is going.

My default power allowed me to delete my parts in my host's memory. I can have grand trips with the body and my host would be none the wiser.

It was the only thing right now that was saving me from detection.


End file.
